Interior designer Randy Franks lives -- and works -- in a 670-square-foot condo by the shores of Montecito, near Santa Barbara. Given the economy of space, it's no surprise the ideas start at the front door.

He replaced 1960s amber windows with crocodile-patterned glass that transmits light but preserves privacy (and retains a period feel, unlike the frosted glass or white-foil windows used so often in modern construction).

He made one window operable, so ocean breezes flow in with the sun's ray.

And he added a skylight, which instantly changes the character of the space.

Writer Barbara Thornburg has the full story on Randy Franks' efficient design.

You can see the rest of the home in our photo gallery.

-- Craig Nakano

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At the 2011 International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the nation's most important showcase for modern home decor, independent designers and artisanal producers stood out from the Javits Center pack. The New York convention center floor was filled with pieces such as, clockwise from top left: a chair from Akmd collection, a collaboration of Michael Dreeben and Ayush Kasliwal; a Sami Hayek table in the style of traditional black Oaxacan pottery; Ameico's Trash Me lamp, a Victor Vetterlein design made of paper pulp reminiscent of egg-carton material; and Hayek's Mestizo credenza, which combines traditional Mexican bead work with a modern glossy red finish.

Cindy Dampier reports from New York with the full assessment of the 2011 International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

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New York Design Week: A hammock named Hammy

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Some fruits, especially citrus, often are packaged in stretchy mesh or woven plastic produce bags. Generally made from polyethylene plastics No. 1, 2 and 4 or polypropylene plastic No. 5, they aren’t labeled with recycling symbols, but they are recyclable in L.A.’s blue bin.

Netted produce bags that resemble fabric fishing nets, like the nylon bags used for a brand of citrus called Cuties, are not recyclable, because they can get tangled in the sorting equipment at recycling facilities. Netted produce bags made from nylon and other fabric-like synthetics are trash and should be placed in the black bin.

The difference between the two types of bags is often in the feel; netted bags have small knots in the intersecting lines of the netting.

For both types of bags, reuse is best. Use them to carry fruits purchased at farmers markets or for wet swim suits at the beach.

Because policies and recommendations can vary from city to city, each week we ask a sampling of officials from various municipalities to weigh in. Can I recycle plastic mesh citrus bags in ...

Arcadia: Yes

Burbank: Not curbside. They can be placed in the mixed plastics bin at the Burbank Recycle Center.

Glendale: No

L.A.: Yes, if stretchy plastic. No, if mesh.

Riverside: No

Santa Monica: No

Torrance: No

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(Each week, we explain the recycling potential for an item that might be confusing. Here are some previous Can I Recycle topics.)

Store receipts?

Milk cartons?

Pizza boxes?

Post-it Notes?

Tyvek?

Bottle caps?

Wine corks?

Ziploc bags

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Ann Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Community Gardens Dispatch No. 31: Sepulveda Garden Center, Encino

An increase in fees, the first major hike since this place was founded in 1966, has been roiling the Sepulveda Garden Center, the mother of all community gardens in Los Angeles.

Sepulveda is the oldest and the biggest, with more than 800 plots on nearly 20 acres of land. Gardeners have liked it for many reasons. It’s freeway close, the thrum of the traffic on the 101 softened by a wall of mature trees: sweet gum, eucalyptus and even a few redwoods.

It's also part public park, with grassy lawns, shade trees, benches, a meeting hall, a library and demonstration gardens with roses, cactus and native plants. These are maintained by some of the 11 gardening clubs and plant societies that use the Sepulveda Garden Center regularly, including the Southern California Garden Club, the Woodland Hills Floral Designers and the California Rare Tree Growers.

A separate area grows food for L.A. Zoo herbivores, most notably the koalas, and periodically the harvest comes full circle, returning to Sepulveda as Zoo Poo compost for gardeners to use.

“It vanishes quickly,” said Vel Lauterio, Sepulveda's new senior gardener, right.

She arrived in December, an employee of the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks, which controls the land. Back then the garden was rife with talk about the fee hike, the annual cost of each 10-by-20-foot lot rising to $120 from $25, a 480% increase.

Some gardeners had five plots, so the new fee -- made public in November and set to go into effect next month -- was a game-changer. Some gardeners protested. About 30 quit.

Lauterio noted that the new rate amounts to $10 a month for land, water, compost and use of tools. The increase is meant to offset budget cuts to Recreation and Parks, which does have to pay for water used at the garden. It’s Lauterio's job to start sending out notices of the new rate at the end of the month, but gardeners' uncertainty about the future already was visible during planting season. Many delayed planting for spring, and some beds are overgrown with weeds or have winter greens gone to flower.

Contemporary Finnish designers presented their work last week at a show in Manhattan's meatpacking district titled "New Finnish Design Scenarios," held to coincide with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and New York Design Week.

The Finnish designers created spare and simple furniture, rugs and fabric made from paper yarn. Perhaps because they spend a lot of the winter in darkness, they seemed obsessed with lights, even figuring out a way to integrate LEDs in a rope swing, above, designed by Alexander Lervik.  

The firm Innojok displayed a line of table and floor lamps called Innolux Design, which included pieces by Eero Aarnio, the man behind the iconic 1960s Bubble and Ball chairs, and reissued midcentury classics by designers Yki Nummi and Lisa Johansson-Pape.

Most intriguing: Innosol, a collection of lamps that have been certified as medical devices to provide bright light therapy to those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder.

The lamps come as flat panels, globes and designer shapes, including Aarnio's Kubo and Manhattan. (Both are pictured at right; the skyscraper-inspired Manhattan is the more shadowy light on the far left.)

Each provides 10,000 lux, the measurement of light intensity. (Outdoor summer light is rated at 50,000 to 100,000 lux.) 

The designer, Mari Isopahkala, was also on hand to explain a prototype of Kurki, an aluminum floor lamp with the profile of a minimalist sculpture: five 360-degree pivoting arms that emit LED illumination, shown below.

"I wanted to create a lamp for the user to choose how much light they needed and where they wanted the light to be placed," she said. To turn it off, she added, "You line up all the arms. To turn it on, you just move the arms to where you want them."

Our Friday sustainable gardening column posted early this week because of the storm:

After an ample rain year, May showers are a mixed blessing in the Southern California garden. On the upside, it’s cool outside; damp soil yields easily to the weed fork, and late rain keeps the window open to sow more seeds and transplant seedlings in vegetable beds.

On the downside, if you haven’t weeded your winter garden yet, and the weeds have gone to seed, spring rain could mean a bumper summer crop of crabgrass.

So, what to do, apart from moving fast to weed while the soil is soft, and then promptly mulching? Master Gardener coordinator Yvonne Savio advises betting on every conceivable weather pattern in late spring and early summer, then enjoying the fruits of whatever ultimately happens.

First, she says, wager that cool weather will continue. Put in more fast-growing spring crops such as lettuce. But also bet on a hot summer and, be they from seed or seedling pack, get your summer crops of cucumbers, runner beans, tomatoes, squash and corn in the ground. Both bets may not pay out. A heat wave might make your wager on a prolonged spring a bust. Your late lettuce may wilt, or bolt, or grow tough and bitter.

“But what have you lost?” Savio asks. “Some seeds.” If you win, you’ll be in salad throughout June.

For help assessing the odds of a cool summer as opposed to a hot one, and an early summer as opposed to late one, I contacted Jet Propulsion Laboratory oceanographer Bill Patzert. Some of you may remember that in September he put 80% to 90% odds on a strong cooling of equatorial waters in the Pacific, a system known as La Niña, producing winter drought for Southern California.

After nearly record rains in December, and a Christmas dinner of crow instead of turkey, he knew that Southern California ended up on the lucky side of La Niña’s traditional cutoff somewhere between San Diego and the Oregon border. This system tends to drive rain north and keep the south dry, but we were doused and poor Texas was parched.

Bloodied but unbowed, Patzert is again willing to read ocean currents and hazard some odds for our summer.

For the young and crafty like Matt Gagnon, above, Brooklyn had been the center of the universe during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the modern design show that anchors New York Design Week. But now all the action has moved to Manhattan's NoHo, the North of Houston neighborhood that hosted a number of events and exhibitions last week showcasing work from Brooklyn to Berlin.

Furniture at the NoHo Design District exhibitions looked familiar and fatigued: Some concept pieces took designers too long to explain, and uncomfortable metal and plywood cube chairs caused one onlooker to remark, "These designers are the children of Donald Judd."

Lighting designs, however, were a bright spot.

Los Angeles craftsman Matt Gagnon took over the front window of the NoHo branch of Future Perfect, the Brooklyn store that has long advanced both local and international design.

Gagnon and his assistants put on a show, cranking out about 40 Prototype pendant lamps made from fibers wound around metal armatures.

"It's part of my ongoing obsession with wrapping things," said Gagnon, who designed 18 components that can be configured in seemingly endless ways to create the frame for the pendants. The frames are wrapped in materials such as clear plastic surgical tubing, cotton rope or silk thread.

"Because the aerospace industry in Los Angeles has fallen off, they're happy to deal with weirdoes like me," he said, referring to aerospace fabricators that make the components for his lighting.

The lamps sell for $600 each at Future Perfect. Keep reading to see the lights of Lindsey Adelman, Omer Arbel and Roman & Williams, all displayed in the NoHo Design District.

Marcel Wanders has serious swagger. The Dutch designer known for his imaginative furniture designs -- a chair made from knotted rope, a chandelier covered in an otherworldly stretchy skin -- is playful enough to wear a gold clown nose and put a rose between his lips in the opening pages of his first book, "Interiors" ($60, Rizzoli).

"I call myself the jester -- the only one in the court who is allowed to make fun of the king because no one questions his loyalty to the king," Wanders said at a book signing Sunday at the Flos showroom during New York Design Week.

Substitute the word "design" for "the king" and you'll begin to understand what makes Wanders so special. As the artistic director and co-founder of Moooi and a gun-for-hire at other firms, Wanders' designs for furniture, lighting and accessories are grand, often absurd, yet usually regarded as beautifully conceived and executed.

The new 256-page book documents Wanders' work as an interior designer for clients such as the Mondrian Hotel in Miami, above and right. "Interiors" also shows Wanders' fanciful takes on wallpaper, carpets, mosaic tiles and artwork. 

"In product design I am a sculptor, working in marble," he wrote in one of the few pages with text. (The book also has two essays, by Frame Editor in Chief Robert Thiemann and Fast Company senior writer Linda Tischler.)

"In interiors," Wanders wrote, "I feel like a composer creating an opera." 

As he stood underneath his new Flos lighting collection, Wanders said what makes his interiors stand apart: "We don't shop," he said. "We design and make most everything in the room."

"Interiors" includes the Hotel on Rivington in New York, as well as restaurants in the Netherlands and stores in Britain and Bahrain. They're eye candy that engages the brain, raising provocative questions about what interiors should and could look like. Wanders communicates best through visuals, and the book includes renderings and Wanders' musings on proposed projects, including an apartment building in Guadalajara that looks like a floating cloud. Keep reading to see that and more.

The revelation that Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child with a household staff member can go from shocking to nerve-wracking when your child is sitting beside you. For a certain type of parent, questions abound: Should I turn off the radio or television and try to limit my child's exposure to the sex scandal? Or is it OK to let my kid listen and absorb? Do I use it as the basis to start a conversation? And if I do start a conversation, what should that conversation be about?

Rabbi Laura Novak Winer, director of curriculum and planning for the Youth Programs Department of the Union for Reform Judaism, said if a child is old enough to ask questions about the ex-governor's infidelity, he or she is old enough to hear an honest answer. The answer, however, should reflect a child's age and also relate to the type of question he or she asked. If a 7-year-old asks, "Why is this in the news?" a parent might simply reply, "Arnold made a mistake and hurt his family."

Parents can assume that children in sixth grade and above will understand what is going on and will have questions. Winer identified three types of conversations that this moment in the news cycle might inspire:

1. Talk about monogamy and sex: If you believe that monogamy is the key (or at least one key) to a happy relationship, now is the time to talk about what monogamy means, and the importance of honoring the commitments we make to our boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse.

2. Talk about the importance of forgiveness: Remember, this may not be the first time your kid has heard this type of story. Perhaps a friend or family member has been through a similar experience. This is an opportunity to talk about the types of mistakes people make, the consequences those mistakes can have, and how we can forgive people for their mistakes.

3. Talk about the ugliness of gossip: It's time to discuss how real people are involved in this situation and how hurtful gossip about them can be.

What if, like a colleague of mine, you have a daughter and are wondering how to reassure her that some men are indeed trustworthy? Julie Cederbaum, an assistant professor at USC and an expert in family relationships, suggested reminding your child that this is a case of one person doing something hurtful, and that some people make choices we don't agree with, but that doesn't mean all people are bad.

-- Deborah Netburn

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Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger with wife Maria Shriver in 2003. Credit: Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

Now here's a hammock we can really get into. Southern California Institute of Architecture masters program graduate Chris Jamison, above, transformed the humble hammock stand into a modern lounger that he calls Hammy.

You can't improve on the lying position of a hammock, "but there's a lot you can do with the stand," said Jamison, founder of Plywood Office.

At 8.5 feet long, the Hammy's powder-coated steel frame is about 6 feet shorter than many hammock stands. Jamison's non-fading Batyline mesh sling doesn't give you that rock-a-bye sway, but it also won't flip over.

The Hammy's aluminum-and-white-oak base has an integrated planter. When you aren't lazing in it, the mesh still provides shade for low-sun flowers or herbs.

The wooden crossbars on the top are considerately rounded so "you don't get impaled by the frame," Jamison said. One has an integrated drink holder. The only thing missing is a misting fan.

The Hammy costs $1,900 and will be sold through the Plywood Office website. Jamison will bring it to Los Angeles for the Dwell on Design show in June. 

Jamison showed Hammy at the Model Citizens NYC exhibition at the Chelsea Art Museum, an event timed with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair during New York Design Week. The exhibition has grown to include more than 90 independent designers, ranging from students showing prototypes to established architects, founder Mika Braakman said. The show had a lot to admire beyond the Hammy, including a collection of Dutch designers' handcrafted objects whose expletive-laced title could be translated for this blog as, "How It's Made and Why It's So [Very] Expensive."

Keep reading to see more designs. 

Interior designer Ryan Brown, the easygoing counterpart to high-strung house flipper Jeff Lewis on Bravo's "Flipping Out," is playing the nice guy again, this time on his own show. "Spouse vs. House," which airs on TLC, is a multilayered hour of renovation and couples therapy: A husband and wife are given $25,000 to redo three rooms. The husband provides the sweat equity, doing the work himself, while the wife moves out of the house and his life (they have no contact for three weeks) and hopes the results aren't ghastly. 

But, wait. Brown, whose own residence was the subject of a 2009 Los Angeles Times photo tour, selects one of the existing rooms and re-creates it to scale in a set called the Dollhouse. The replica room and its contents are spray-painted white, above.

The designer then has a consultation and shopping trip with the wife. (Some items come from Ryan Brown Style, the designer's recently launched online store.) Then the husband visits the Dollhouse and has the opportunity to use ideas and buy items for the real room back home. Finally -- phew! -- the couple are reunited in the dramatic DIY reveal. (If TLC is looking for a follow-up next season, might we suggest letting the wives run the renovation and sending the men shopping?)

Most guys have two thoughts going into the projects, Brown said in an email: demolition and the big screen. "They grab a sledgehammer, the testosterone kicks in, and they start tearing things apart without even really coming up with a plan," Brown said. "The other thought seems to be, 'How big of a TV can I get in here?' " 

Brown also noticed that, with the number of design shows on TV, men are much more educated about design than in years past. (One of the cutest parts of the show: When the husbands speak decorator language and get stoked about wallpaper.) The biggest surprise over the six episodes, Brown said, was watching the wives change through the process.

"They started off shell-shocked about having to move out of their homes, but as the weeks progressed, they really enjoyed working on the Dollhouse," he said. "These women are not the type that has a ton on money and time to design a dream room. The show gave them the opportunity to express their creativity and realize that they could actually design a beautiful room. They became women with confidence, which to me is way more important than how the house turned out."

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credit: Ann Summa / TLC

For an easy way to follow future headlines, join our Facebook pages for California home design or gardening in the West.

Every Monday we post a recently built, remodeled or redecorated home with commentary from the designer. This week:

Project: Whole house remodel 

Location: Pasadena

Design: Wayne Schlock, principal, Blue Point Architecture, Los Angeles. Project team: J. Mateo, A. Solis, R. Hines. Structural Design: Koje Shoraka principal, Efficient Consulting Engineers, Los Angeles, (310) 474-9041.

  Architect's description: This once homely and awkward house, right, was transformed into the contemporary home pictured above to suit the needs of a modern family. Located in a leafy neighborhood of Pasadena not far from the Huntington Library, the Greenwood house project started as a modest window replacement project and eventually evolved into an extensive remodel.

The main challenge of this project was to make architectural sense out of an existing pileup of additions and jumble of rooms and styles. Zoning restrictions posed another challenge, which dictated working mostly within the building’s existing footprint. The home's size limitation also corresponded to a relatively modest project budget, while an existing pool located 3 feet from the rear of the house further restricted expansion possibilities.

Considering the asymmetric organization of the existing home, the transformation moved forward by employing a new arrangement of doors and windows, introducing new materials such as cedar siding to articulate the kitchen/service core of the house, and also introducing a new green "wrapping wall"that visually connects the front to back.

These elements carry through to the interior of the home to create an integrated design. The wrapping wall's large square window not only provides a new feature on the exterior of the house but also frames a view from the interior of a new den. 

The layout of the home was reorganized, combining a series of small rooms and closets into larger open flexible spaces to accommodate informal modern living. Most notable is the combination of several rooms into a large kitchen and dining area.

The house's physical and visual connections to the outdoors were improved, as were the quantity and quality of usable outdoor space, allowing outdoor spaces to become extensions of the indoors. A new wall of glass sliding doors from the kitchen and dining area opens onto a new cantilevered deck over the pool.

A new second-floor terrace off the master bedroom was created by removing an existing pitched roof above the living room and replacing it with a flat roof.

Interior materials of this project include rift-cut white oak flooring and sills; dark, monochromatic porcelain slab pavers; white lacquer, factory fabricated cabinets; matte white Dutch tile; and marble countertops and tub surrounds. 

To see more photos, keep reading ...